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06 February 2023 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Sonia Small
Burta De Kock - Head Coach of UFS Netball
Burta de Kock has been re-elected to serve on the new World Netball Coaching Advisory Panel.

Burta de Kock, the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Netball Head Coach since 2002, has been elected to serve on the new World Netball Coaching Advisory Panel

De Kock, whose coaching career spans the past three decades, has coached the Kovsie Netball team, the national South African Proteas, as well as the South Africa Under 23s in the past twenty years. 

Under her leadership, Kovsie Netball is the university team that has won the most gold medals and produced 18 brilliant South African Protea players, with Refiloe Nketsa as the latest Kovsie Protea player. Moreover, the university has also won several Varsity Netball competitions, as well as other titles like USSA and Varsity Netball.

Currently, she is still coaching the Kovsie Netball team and the Free State A team in the SA Spar Championships.

Fifth year serving on the panel

De Kock describes her reappointment to the World Netball Coaching Advisory Panel as a great honour. This will be the fifth year that she will serve on the panel. 

According to a statement by World Netball, the panel will advise the World Netball CEO, Clare Briegal, and the board. The structure, consisting of nine members – with Dr Anita Navin as Chair, will be working with the board to support the development and implementation of agreed priorities in the World Netball Strategic Plan, particularly focusing on driving the development of quality coaches and coaching worldwide.

As a South African serving on this international platform, De Kock believes she brings a way of thinking from the African side of netball. 

As a result of the direct contact with international teams and coaches that this platform brings, she looks forward to making use of this opportunity to learn from them, to share information, and to develop successful players and coaches at universities, both locally and internationally.

Learn from one another 

She also believes that her exposure to international teams and coaches can provide valuable guidelines to Kovsie Netball – with their unique style – on where they need to adapt to enhance their performance and win games against international teams such as Australia, New Zealand, and England. 

In addition, she is also excited about connecting the university with international institutions and clubs. “This is how we grow. We can learn from each other and serve Africa,” she says. 

News Archive

Kovsie students selected for prestigious study travel programme
2013-05-15

 

Golden Key International Honour Society members, Michael van Niekerk, Siobhan Canavan, Mpoi Makhetha and Cebolenkosi Sokhela, will travel to the USA and China, meeting the best in their career fields.
Photo: Hannes Pieterse
15 May 2013


They are amongst the top 15 percent of academic achievers at the university, and have been afforded the opportunity to travel abroad and meet with leading people in their fields of study.

Kovsie students Michael van Niekerk, Siobhan Canavan, Mpoi Makhetha and Cebolenkosi Sokhela, all members of the Golden Key International Honour Society, will travel to the USA and China. This trip is part of the International Scholar Laureate Program (ISLP) to learn how their career fields are practiced in another part of the world. The students are part of a select group of outstanding university students from across the world who will be given access to people, places and global perspectives in fields such as business, engineering, medicine, nursing, diplomacy and international relations.

Michael, a fourth-year MBChB student and SRC member of our Bloemfontein Campus, and Cebolenkosi, a third-year BSc Microbiology student will visit Washington, Philadelphia and New York in the USA. As part of the medicine delegation of the programme, they will visit clinics and hospitals to see how their study fields are practiced. Michael’s trip includes a visit to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he will meet representatives of the National Institute of Health, the largest source of funding for medical research in the world. He will also visit Harvard University in Massachusetts.

Mpoi, a third-year BSc Human Molecular Biology student, also forms part of the medicine delegation but will travel to China. "We will be exploring the ancient ways of healing versus the modern medical practices, exploring the medical systems of the country and meeting doctors and professors, visiting the rural areas, and of course, touring the best parts of China,” she said.

Siobhan, a third-year Media Studies and Journalism student, is part of the diplomacy and international relations delegation who will visit Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai in China. "To me it's such an honour to be part of this programme,” she said. “It will give me the platform to not only represent who I am, but also my university and the values that the university has instilled in me. It allows me to be a part of something great that will benefit me in the end."

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